jennifer singer

Stakeholder engagement

Collaboration and participation are key to a successful school project. I can help you to engage parents, teachers, members of the community and, most of all, students in the development of the brief and the design of the building using tested, appropriate approaches to stakeholder engagement. Consultations can range from workshops to projects to meetings to small group 'surgeries,' and are designed to work with the nature of the project needs, your budget and programme. Not only is stakeholder engagement important for ensuring that your school has its students and staff at its heart, but it's also useful for gaining the ‘buy-in’ of the whole school community. It can also give teachers and students the confidence and skills to better engage with their learning environment in the future.

From 2004, I collaborated with Alison Clark, a leading educational researcher, on the design of Ashmole School. We implemented a technique called the Mosaic Approach that Alison developed with Peter Moss at the Institute of Education. This methodology is a low-cost and practical tool for not only seeing places from the perspective of the building’s key occupants, but also for listening better. Later I adapted the technique when working with older children and parents at King David School. It became an effective tool for a wider discussion about the design of the school, as well as for rationalising the brief and managing the client’s expectations.

The Mosaic Approach is widely recognised internationally as a groundbreaking technique for working with children on the design of their spaces.

Read more about the research behind the Mosaic Approach here.

Further information